Two Democrats Betrayed Us, Are Supporting Gorsuch For Supreme Court – Here’s Who They Are

In the fight against Donald Trump, it is important that we stay unified but two Democrats have stepped across party lines to support The Orange One’s pick for Supreme Court — the spot that was stolen from Barack Obama’s nomination, Merrick Garland.

Apparently, Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota do not want their jobs after 2018, as they have betrayed both their party and the American people in deciding to back Neil Gorsuch, giving Republicans two of the eight Democratic votes needed to avoid a showdown on the Senate floor next week.

“I hold no illusions that I will agree with every decision Judge Gorsuch may issue in the future, but I have not found any reasons why this jurist should not be a Supreme Court justice,” Manchin said in a statement accompanying his announcement that he has no spine. The Hill‘s Maria T. Cardona gives us a number of reasons why Gorsuch should not be a Supreme Court justice:

For women who believe strongly they should keep the right to make decisions over their own bodies and reproductive choices, Judge Gorsuch is particularly worrisome.

In several cases involving access to contraception for women, Judge Gorsuch repeatedly sided with restricting that access to women in several instances including being an employee of a secular company who chose on the basis of religious freedom, not to pay for contraception in the health plans of their employees offered through the Affordable Care Act (Burwell vs.Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.).

Judge Gorsuch also sided with the governor of Utah in his efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, therefore taking away vital health care services including cancer screenings to thousands of women who would not be able to get that care elsewhere.

On environmental issues, the Sierra Club’s executive director, Michael Brune, warns, “Judge Gorsuch’s dangerous views favor polluters and industry over the rights of the people. His record shows that he will limit the access of everyday Americans to the courts and prevent agencies like the EPA from fulfilling their mission and doing their job to protect our air, water, and health. He’s even been described as more extreme than Justice Scalia.”

On issues having to do with criminal justice, civil rights groups are rightly concerned about a case where Gorsuch sided with the excess use of a stun gun by a police officer that resulted in a dead victim.

“He has a record as a balanced, meticulous and well-respected jurist who understands the rule of law,” she said in her statement, apparently having not reviewed his record of siding with corporations and against oppressed groups.

Another Democrat who seems to be teetering is Washington’s Mariah Cantwell (who can be reached at her D.C. office at 202-224-3441). While Manchin and Heitkamp have told their constituents they don’t want their jobs anymore, Cantwell can still be saved if we make our voices heard.

Featured image via Mark Wilson/Getty Images

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Written by John Prager

John Prager is an unfortunate Liberal soul who lives uncomfortably in the middle of a Conservative hellscape.
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